Today, we took part in the charity concert hosted by a hometown singer Uekane Ken-san.

One of our girls, “Chiho”, ended up taking the stage and singing in this concert…

To give the whole sequence of events, Uekane Ken-san has always chosen our project to support through his charity concerts.

Last year as well, he made donations to our project with the charity concert proceeds.

At the time we received it, thinking that it would be a good chance to hear thanks directly from the girls, we brought them along.

In the instant that Uekane Ken-san said that “I’m doing the charity concert, and I would like to invite you girls.”, Chiho started saying that “I want to sing too!”.

“Huh? Wh-what are you saying???” said the bewildered Executive Director.

Uekane-san asked “Why do you want to sing?”, and casually asked for Chiho’s feelings.

Chiho told him of her feelings.

The reason is, at the end of last year, there were two boys who wanted to join the Matsumoto project.

But, financially and personnel-wise, this was deemed difficult, and so we ended up giving up on accepting this.

We conveyed this to the girls as well.

For Chiho, a switch flipped.

“I will sing! And then call out for donations there! If we get a lot of money, we’ll be able to start a boys’ dormitory, right~? We will be able to get as many Fukushima children as possible to come here, right? I’ll do it too! I’m singing!” She said.

This executive director was so impressed that he ended up losing his words.

Chiho conveyed her emotions.

It turned out that Uekane-san understood her feelings, and at once gave her a slot…

Once this was a done deal, Chiho made an effort to practice together with Tsubasa-san, a singer.

So that she would not make a mistake in the lyrics, she watched the YouTube video over and over, time and time again to remember them.

And then, today was the real performance!

Chiho, who had not thought about this until the previous day, was a little nervous-looking.

Somehow, Chiho gets hyper while she is getting nervous.

(pic)

In order to calm her down, Tsubasa-san did the final adjustments for her.

The real performance! While they were doing stage preparations, Chiho was interviewed by the master of ceremonies!

Chiho was nervous MAX at the fact that there was a huge audience.

Regarding the questions, it was an “Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!” situation.

This is bad…or so I thought, but once she started singing, her nervousness came undone, and she turned out to have a very good signing voice.

The second song was even better!

And then, Chiho read out loud a message to everyone in the audience.

“I have a request for everyone here, and that's why I asked for this opportunity to stand on this stage. I want to get more children from Fukushima to come and study here! To do that, funds are needed. Please assist us.” she said.

Chiho properly conveyed her own feelings despite being that nervous.

It surely may have struck the hearts of everyone in the concert hall.

Their generous applause resounded throughout the entire concert hall.

During the break, the other girls called out to people for donations holding a donation box in order to cheer on Chiho.

“We are the Matsumoto Project! Please help us with our fundraising!” they said.

A lot of people kindly made donations to us.

And they talked to Chiho.

“That was very good!” “Good luck!” “You should be a singer in the future!”

Truly a lot of people made donations to us.

The girls became one in their desires and asked for funds.

Everyone did their best.

The tally still has not come out yet, but I think we gathered over 50,000 yen. (T/N: About $420.)

※When the tally does come out, we will let you know.

A 13-year-old girl challenged herself of her own will, cheered up, and sang wholeheartedly. And also gathered donations.

She is truly wonderful~!

Chiho succeeded in doing something this executive director could have absolutely not done at 13 years old!

“If you make a move, you can make a change.”

She succeeded in doing that!

The already moved executive director’s tears overflowed

Chiho had regained herself this much and grown up a lot.

Chiho, who did not have confidence in herself, who was full of anxieties of the future as well.

She succeeded in doing this within this year!

She kept challenging herself with various things!

And today, her effort may have ripened.

I think that the rest of the girls felt this quite a bit as well.

Everyone supports everyone else.

Looking at the sight of the girls who were helping each other grow, this executive director was deeply moved.

Our effort went through many layers of experience.

Beginning from the previous dorm leader Negishi-kun, Ken-san, Tsubasa-san, and then to Morikawa-san, we have come this far.

We are very thankful to Uekane Ken-san who gave us this chance as well!

Thank you very much.

And so, I was deeply impressed by the wonderfulness of people mutually supporting each other’s growth together as well.

It aims at providing a place
where the children affected by
the March 2011 disaster can
live, play and study in a safe
environment. The boarding
school type of arrangements
have been set up in the Shiga
district in Matsumoto City.